Overcriminalization

The Limits of the Criminal Law

Douglas Husak

Husak's primary goal is to defend a set of constraints to limit the authority of states to enact and enforce criminal offenses. In addition, Husak situates this endeavor in criminal theory as traditionally construed. This book urges the importance of this topic in the real world, while most Anglo-American legal philosophers have neglected it.

Overcriminalization

The Limits of the Criminal Law

Douglas Husak

Description

The United States today suffers from too much criminal law and too much punishment. Husak describes the phenomena in some detail and explores their relation, and why these trends produce massive injustice. His primary goal is to defend a set of constraints that limit the authority of states to enact and enforce penal offenses. The book urges the weight and relevance of this topic in the real world, and notes that most Anglo-American legal philosophers have neglected it. Husak's secondary goal is to situate this endeavor in criminal theory as traditionally construed. He argues that many of the resources to reduce the size and scope of the criminal law can be derived from within the criminal law itself-even though these resources have not been used explicitly for this
purpose. Additional constraints emerge from a political view about the conditions under which important rights such as the right implicated by punishment-may be infringed. When conjoined, these constraints produce what Husak calls a minimalist theory of criminal liability. Husak applies these constraints to a handful of examples-most notably, to the justifiability of drug proscriptions.

Overcriminalization

The Limits of the Criminal Law

Douglas Husak

Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgements Chapter One: The Amount of Criminal Law I c Too Much Punishment, Too Many Crimes. II. How More Crimes Produce InjusticeIII. The Content of New OffensesIV. An Illustration of OvercriminalizationChapter Two: Internal Constraints on Criminalization I. The General Part of Criminal LawII. From Punishment to CriminalizationIII. A Right Not to Be Punished?IV. Malum ProhibitumChapter Three: External Constraints on Criminalization I. Infringing the Right Not to be PunishedII. The Devil in the DetailsIII. Crimes of Risk-CreationChapter Four: Alternative Theories of Criminalization I. Law and EconomicsII. UtilitarianismIII. Legal Moralism

Overcriminalization

The Limits of the Criminal Law

Douglas Husak

Author Information

Douglas Husak is Professor of Philosophy and Law at Rutgers University.

Overcriminalization

The Limits of the Criminal Law

Douglas Husak

Reviews and Awards

"This is a rich and thought-provoking account of a much undertheorized and yet hugely important issue...Husak's book signals a bold attempt to 'shake up' the discipline and to reignite our interest in the core issues of justice, wrong, blame, desert, and proportionality with which we should be concerned."--Vanessa E. Munro, New Criminal Law Review

"Trying to stem the tide of fatuous law that emanates from our incontinent legislatures, at least in the US and the UK, is a luckless and thankless task. I admire Husak enormously for his willingness to take the task on, and for the lively, sensible, and good-natured tone that he brings to it. I also admire his anti-authoritarian and anti-managerial moral instincts, sadly at odds with the spirit of the age. But most of all I admire Husak as a professional philosopher of law. His work is clear, thorough, patient, ingenious, insightful, informed, imaginative, and highly distinctive. Overcriminalization is no exception. Even those who are pessimistic about the possibility of deliberately effecting political change through academic work have a huge amount to learn from this
wise, timely, and well-written book."--John Gardner, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

''Critically important and easily readable.Highly recommended."--CHOICE

"Douglas Husak embarks upon a provocative and urgent search for a theoretical framework that will enable legislators to identify which of the growing number of criminal law interventions in our daily lives are justified." --Vanessa E. Munro, University of Nottingham

"It is impossible in a review of this length to do justice to Husak's multilayered exploration of the phenomenon of modern overcriminalization and the theoretical frameworks that might be invoked to redress the injustice that it has generated. This is a rich and thought-provoking account of a much under theorized and yet hugely important issue."--Vanessa E. Munro, University of Nottingham